Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Murder Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Queensland murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Visit to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Scene Details
The jurors were led around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four markers indicated where the victim's car had been parked.
The visit was intended to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was given.
Background of the Trial
Previously, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
State Argument
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings absent.
Those objects were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found secured to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has argued.
Defence Stance
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence last week.
The court heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.
